Month: March 2015

Dividends received during the first quarter of fiscal year 2015 (taxes not included):

240.10 USD (Q1/2014: 45,90 USD)

186 EUR (Q1/2014: 0 EUR)

Market value increased by 14,90%. US dividends decreased marginally from previous quarter (244,30 USD) mainly due to inactivity during Q4 and because of the temporarily suspended dividend by NASDAQ:ARCP. Latter one I expect to be restored during Q2/2015.

It’s been a while since the last time I went shopping in NYSE. It was finally possible due to minor changes in EUR/USD exchange rate and USD income from existing positions. As planned I averaged down on Baxter International and bought 15 shares for 68,38 USD per share. Key factor here is the upcoming Baxalta spin-off for which some information can be found from here.

Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX), through its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures and markets products that save and sustain the lives of people with hemophilia, immune disorders, infectious diseases, kidney disease, trauma, and other chronic and acute medical conditions. As a global, diversified healthcare company, Baxter applies a unique combination of expertise in medical devices, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology to create products that advance patient care worldwide. Baxter had 2014 sales of $16.7 billion and has approximately 65,500 employees.

Plans are meant to be changed. I couldn’t justify converting euros to dollars with the current exchange rate. Otherwise I would have started with Baxter International but in the current situation I’ll wait a while to build up dollar position from dividends received from existing positions. Instead I opened a new position on Telenor by buying 55 shares for 152,70 NOK per share. This is my second Norwegian holding. I’m not super excited about the valuation, this more like a good enough position in the current situation. I might double the position during this month and after that focus on finding something from the euro zone. Right now I’m considering to play the QE scenario by loading up on iShares STOXX Europe Select Dividend 30 UCITS ETF for two to four months.

Bull market just keeps on going and it’s very difficult to see a major shift happening very soon. It seems that the most likely outcome of the QE operations is a significant bubble which will continue to grow for couple of years. Volatility might increase in near term but it’s very difficult to imagine all the loose money not going to stocks especially in Europe. All this makes it a bit difficult to come up with a solid shopping list for the next 6 months or so. In general I’d need to consider or address the following issues:

Portfolio balancing would require adding on existing positions in companies such as Baxter International, General Electric, AT&T, Aflac Inc and perhaps Deere. Baxter is special item here since I’d like to increase my position before the upcoming Baxalta spin-off.

I’m not a huge fan of the idea of converting euros to dollars with the current exchange rate (existing USD income will help a bit)

It’s much more difficult to find high quality companies from euro zone (especially ones that pay a quarterly dividend)

In general I would like to increase my position in currencies other than euro and US dollar

Having said that, the expected shopping list and order to go as follows:

Baxter International

Unilever/Diageo/something european

Telia-Sonera/Nordea/Gjensidige if there’s a temporary and significant enough drop during spring (otherwise these will be considered during Q4/2015 and Q1/2016)

Canadian bank (looking at Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Nova Scotia at the moment even though I have some concerns about the housing bubble)

General Electric/AT&T/Aflac/Deere (it remains to be seen how the dollar valuation moves or is moved, I might consider converting dollars to euros as well)